Apparently, it has turned out that what is known to be the world’s smallest country has also been named the most literate in terms of cybersecurity: Vatican City.
As per the National Privacy Test carried out by one of the most acclaimed VPN services, NordVPN, The Holy See topped, with eight other top ten nations all being European. On the world leaderboard, the UK came in at number 35.
NordVPN says the test is "designed to evaluate aspects of an individual's online life, including their understanding of cybersecurity in theory and their ability to recognize online threats and react accordingly."
European Countries Dominate
Vatican City respondents received 72 points in the test, the highest of any other country, according to data accumulated since 2020 with nearly 140,000 respondents from 192 countries answering to 20 questions.
The residents "demonstrated an excellent awareness of digital risks and how to avoid them," notes NordVPN. However, the firm also criticized the residents’ digital habits, mentioning that they need to up their online services and privacy tools in order to maintain their security.
The second place was secured by Finland, followed by the Czech Republic. As per the reports, when compared to Vatican City, both countries have poorer results in areas pertaining to the test, namely digital habits, digital privacy awareness, and digital risk.
Status of the Non-European Countries
Singapore was the only non-European country making it in the top ten, ranking seven with 69 points. The other Asian countries followed were Malaysia and the UAE, both scoring 67 points. Moreover, the US ranked 21st globally with a score of 67, leaving behind Canada in all the test aspects.
New Zealand took first place in the Oceanic region with 68 points, while Australia came in second with 63 points. New Zealand outperformed other nations in every category. Meanwhile, with 67 points, Brazil took first place in Latin America, two points ahead of its closest competitors, Argentina and Colombia. However, Colombia outperformed Argentina in terms of digital dangers (84 to 80) and behaviors (49 to 47).
Moreover, the global average score turned out to be 65, with respondents performing their best when identifying and avoiding digital dangers, scoring an average of 82 points. The average score for knowing how to avoid malware was 69 points, while only 47 points were awarded for knowing how to properly secure data utilizing privacy tools and internet services.